Velan Titles
Titles of the Velan Ascendancy The Velan Ascendancy still uses quite a few titles of House Vela, but doesn't adhere to the traditional four branches of Velan noble society anymore. Instead the titles below are grouped by area of expertise. Government Ìràwọ̀ (Yoruba for star): Elected delegate to the Assembly of a municipality. Oníràwọ́ (Yoruba for star): Delegate representing their municipalities in the Grand Forum. Archon: Head of state of the Velan Ascendancy. Diplomacy Rasul: Each Rasul works as direct correspondent to at least one of the houses or factions. They act as a liaison between the ruling parties. They report directly to the Archon with any request for audience or offers of treaties. Military Oramiral: One of the highest ranks in the Velan military, the equivalent of an admiral / general. They answer only to the Grand Oramiral and the Archon, and focus on strategy and command and run the official military operations of the Protectors. They can also take direct command in the field if necessary. Most commonly seen as commanders of the military fleets of the Velan Ascendancy under the command of the Archon. They also oversee inbound/outbound ships of royalty and diplomats. Becoming an Oramiral requires rigorous experience as a Navigator or in any Protector rank. Preferred ranks are Cavus (for long-term service on a ship) or Musir (for tactical leadership). Kaymakam: '''High level officer below an Oramiral, usually captain of a starship. '''Kolaghassi: Senior officer below Kaymakam, usually the first officer / second-in-command of a ship. Musir (= Turkish for field marshal): Musir are the black-ops specialists and secret police force of House Vela. They are elite intelligence officers, operating as specialists within the Protectors similar to CIA operatives. Musir have wide oversight over covert and intelligence operations within the Velan Ascendancy. They usually operate with a high degree of independence within the Protector command structure. The Musir also act as primary investigators (similar to internal and external affairs like an FBI or NSA), lead black-ops missions with Shamshir and Immortals under the orders of Oramirals and the Archon. They are primarily concerned with gathering intelligence, dealing with internal threats, and providing Shamshir with targets, that are external threats. Musir work closely with the Rasul, Musharaf and Archon in information gathering and certain aspects of subterfuge. Becoming a Musir requires the standard Navigator training along with special military service. Shamshir (= Persian for sword): '''Elite special forces officers, operating as specialists within the Protectors. Similar to Navy Seals. They have oversight over special military operations within the Velan Ascendancy. Often take command over Fāris and Ranger operations, and may sometimes work closely with Musir handlers and operations overseers. Similar to Musir, the Shamshir have a high degree of independence within the Protector command structure. '''Immortal: The Immortals are ace fighter / mech pilots. They are charged with protecting Haqani and Pharos as a last line of defense. The Immortals gain their name from the mechs they operate, and their long history. These mechs are outfitted with tech developed through researching the alien ruins on Haqani, enabling them to withstand its highly corrosive atmosphere. Throughout the entire history of House Vela it is said not one mech has been destroyed in battle. There is a set number of Immortals at all times and a new Immortal must gain their place by replacing a retiring / fallen Immortal. Cavus: '''The Cavus serve as bodyguards for Navigators. There are usually 1-2 Cavus per Navigator. '''Umzingeli / Abazingeli (plural, derived from the Zulu word for hunter): Ranger units, who only operate on Haqani. Their duties include providing security for Haqani environmental survey corps and keeping up to date on weather and wildlife. Due to the hostile nature of Haqani's atmosphere and fauna, they also act as the primary search and rescue specialists. All Umzingeli are combat survival experts explicitly trained for Haqani's defense. Jemadar: Junior officers, the lowest officer rank in the military. They usually do low-level officer work. Faris: Police for general local security. Usually commanded by Musir. Musharaf (Arabic for supervisor): '''A high ranking member of the Ministry of Merits' political officer cadre. Responsible for the administration of the Merit System first and foremost. Their other duties include promoting the ruling Velan political agenda, curating Velan media, observing and analyzing the populace, investigating corruption, vetting government officials, identifying deviants, and isolating or removing domestic ideological threats to the state. '''Judiciary coming soon Economy Magistar: Head of the Assembly of Creditors. Aushuar: Processing and transactional agents responsible for the enforcement of economic policy. Kashuar: Enforcers of the Assembly of Creditors. Sona: '''Tax collectors for the Assembly of Creditors. '''Tahir / Tajamie / Tahsildar: Repossession agents for the various services the Velan Ascendancy offers. Education Administration Grand Sufiya: Leads the Foundation of Education, appointed by the Archon. It is their job to oversee the health and continued excellence of the Velan Ascendancy's schooling system. Also has duties to keeping LINES, HORIZONS, and OBELISKS, as well as the Great Library running efficiently. Adhya: Chancellor of a Musaeum. All Eamid at that Musaeum report into the Adhya. Elected by all current Eamid from among their peers after a retirement or death of the previous Adhya. Life-time position. Eamid: Heads of departments at Musaeums. In charge of all academic personnel including Fakri, Ustadh, and Khutats, and the curriculum. Similar to a Dean. General Education System Yimaru: Teachers in Lycaeums. Mahais: General term for the student of a Musaeum or Lycaeum. Sejarah - Humanities Teachers in Musaeums, teaching art, history, diplomacy etc. Navigational Education System Ustadh: Teachers of Navigation. They are directly responsible for the rigorous vetting process, teaching Talibs and approving their graduation. Talib: The Talib are Navigators in training, studying under a Ustadh at the College of Navigation. This is the theoretical part of the Navigator training. Shaelam: Navigator in the second phase of training. After a Talib passes the theoretical part of the Navigator training, they enter into a 4 year contract as Shaelam, learning the practical part of Navigation under a Mudaris. Mudaris: Title for a Navigator, Khutat or Fakri, who take on a Shaelam for their 4 year practical training to become a Navigator. Scientific Research and Development Fakri: '''Lead research projects in order to discover new knowledge and add it to the Library. Also teach the hard sciences, e.g. physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology etc. '''Hakarata: Researcher under a Fakri. Also teaches Mahais in some subjects in smaller colleges. Great Library Grand Archivis: Responsible for the administration and providing new information being added to the Great Library, Overseers to Augurs, and Khutat. Augur: Responsible for taking in the data from OBELISKS and calculating the LINES Navigational Forecast, also keeping records of all stellar events that occur. Khutat: Responsible for validating, curating and updating information stored in the Great Library including the Star Charts. Responsible for maintaining the servers of the Great Library. Navigation, Piloting, Spaceships Immerser / Navigator: Currently active Navigators. Immerser is the more traditional title and a Navigator is required to complete the Pilgrimage to Ergos before they can call themselves Immerser. However, Navigators who are not Velan are always referred to simply as Navigators. Kapatang / Stahaj / Deyratar / Safinar: '''Shipwrights, architects, star-smiths, and many other colloquial names of the orbital engineers of House Vela who see throughout the sector that Velan Installations are built and maintained with the expertise needed to keep the sector moving. '''Culture Sheikh / Sheikha / Sheikhx: Sheikhs are distinguished members the Velan Ascendancy with minimum 40 years service to Velan society total. They are the spiritual guides of the nation. They can be found around the system, as they collect and distribute information to passing Velans. Many Sheikhs get elaborate calligraphy tattoos of their favorite sections of knowledge and expertise. Some Sheikhs, who still want to work after retirement combine their Sheikh title with one of the other titles used by the Ascendancy (e.g. a Sheikh who still works as Rasul would be a Sheikhsul). Djeli: A specialized group of Sheikh, who have made the preservation of Velan culture their main purpose. They are tribal musicians and storytellers, whose first responsibility is to keep a spoken memory of all Velan bloodlines and their history in story-form. Titles of House Vela All titled members of House Vela were part of one of four branches of Velan society. Most of the titles associated with the branches were gendered once, but House Vela no longer used them this way. Velans choose which version of a title they wish to use and no roles are restricted by gender. Those Who Lead Raja: A role that oversaw the internal affairs of House Vela. They were represented as the Heart. There was only one Raja at any given time. Rani: A role that oversaw the external affairs of House Vela. They were represented as the Hand. There was only one Rani at any given time. Emir / Emira / Emirox (alt. spelling: Ameer / Ameerah / Ameerox): These titles represented the politicians of the Velan forum. They were either elected officials or born nobility (usually: both). Emir usually were more closely related to internal affairs and the functions of the Raja, while Emira used to work closely with the Rani on foreign policy. Various other titles from various cultural backgrounds were not exactly common, but also in use. Rasul: Each Rasul worked as direct correspondent to at least one of the other houses or factions. They acted as a liaison between the ruling parties. They reported directly to the Rani with any request for audience or offers of treaties. Those Who Know Teaching navigation was mainly a 1:1 mentorship and less like a traditional university course. The time to teach a navigator could vary wildly depending on the aptitude of the candidate and the quality of their relationship with the teacher. But the time frame to go from an apprentice to a full navigator was usually between 4-12 years. Khutat: Responsible for validating, curating and updating information stored in the Great Library including the Star Charts. Responsible for maintaining the servers of the Great Library. Fakri: Lead research projects in order to discover new knowledge and add it to the Library. Kapatang / Stahaj / Deyratar / Safinar: Shipwrights, architects, star-smiths, and many other colloquial names of the orbital engineers of House Vela who saw throughout the sector that Velan installations were built and maintained with the expertise needed to keep the sector moving. Ustadh: Teachers of Navigation. They were directly responsible for the rigorous vetting process, teaching Talibs and approving their graduation. Mudaris: Titel for a Navigator, Khutat or Fakri, who took on a Shaelam for their 4 year practical training to become a Navigator. Eamid: Administrators and leaders of the Great Library and teaching institutions. In charge of all academic personnel including Fakri, Ustadh, and Khutats, their funding, and the curriculum. Similar to a Dean. Adhya: Chancellor of the Musaeum of Pharos. All Eamids reported into the Adhya. Those Who Guide Talib: The Talib were Navigators in training, studying under a Ustadh at the College of Navigation. This was the theoretical part of the Navigator training. Shaelam: Navigator in the second phase of training. After a Talib passed the theoretical part of the Navigator training, they entered into a 4 year contract as Shaelam, learning the practical part of Navigation under a Mudaris. Immerser / Navigator: Currently active Navigators. Immerser was the more traditional title and a Navigator was required to complete the [[Musaeum of Pharos#The Graduation Race / Pilgrimage to Ergus|'Pilgrimage to Ergos']] before they can call themselves Immerser. However, Navigators who were not Velan were always referred to simply as Navigators. Sheikh / Sheikha / Sheikhx: Sheikhs were distinguished members of any branch with minimum 40 years service to the House total. They were the spiritual guides of the House. They could be found around the system, as they collected and distributed information to passing Velans. Many Sheikhs got elaborate calligraphic tattoos of their favorite sections of knowledge and expertise. Some Sheikhs, who still wanted to work after retirement combine their Sheikh title with one of the other titles used by the House (e.g. a Sheikh who still worked as Rasul would be a Sheikhsul). Djeli: A specialized group of Sheikh, who had made the preservation of Velan culture their main purpose. They were tribal musicians and storytellers, whose first responsibility was to keep a spoken memory of all Velan bloodlines and their history in story-form. Those Who Protect House Vela had a very small, specialized military with an emphasis on special forces, covert ops, logistics, and general security. It was known as Vikeli (= Zulu for "sailors" and "protectors") or simply The Protectors. The Vikeli were mainly visible as they accompany Navigators (depending on the safety of the customer and route) and guard House Vela’s Great Library and College of Navigation. The Vikeli were consisting of both nobles and serfs and operated mainly Perithr-wide. In addition to that, House Vela had an Aquila garrison stationed on Pharos. The Vikeli maintained several black ops sites on Haqani for political prisoners or other high value assets (e.g. terrorists, pirates, corporate spies). For main article, see 'Holding Facilities on Haqani'' '''Oramiral: Top attainable rank in the Velan military, equivalent of admiral / general. They focused on strategy and command and ran the official military operations of the Protectors. They could also take direct command in the field if necessary. Most commonly seen as commanders of the military fleets of the House under the command of the Raja. They also oversaw inbound/outbound ships of royalty and diplomats. Becoming an Oramiral required rigorous experience as a Navigator or in any Protector rank. Preferred ranks were Cavus (for long-term service on a ship) or Musir (for tactical leadership). Kaymakam: High level officer below an Oramiral, usually captain of a starship. Kolaghassi: '''Senior officer below Kaymakam, usually the first officer / second-in-command of a ship. '''Musir (= Turkish for field marshal): Musir were the black-ops specialists and secret police force of House Vela. They were Noble elite intelligence officers, operating as specialists within the Protectors similar to CIA operatives. Musir had wide oversight over covert and intelligence operations within House Vela. They usually operated with a high degree of independence within the Protector command structure. The Musir also acted as primary investigators (similar to internal and external affairs like an FBI or NSA), led black-ops missions with Shamshir and Immortals under the orders of Oramirals and the Raja (in some rare cases the Rani as well). They were primarily concerned with gathering intelligence, dealing with internal threats, and providing Shamshir with targets, that were external threats. Musir worked closely with the Rasul and Raja in information gathering and certain aspects of subterfuge. Becoming a Musir required the standard Navigator training along with special military service. Shamshir (= Persian for sword): Noble elite special forces officers, operating as specialists within the Protectors. Similar to Navy Seals. They had oversight over special military operations within House Vela. Often took command over Fāris and Ranger operations, and sometimes worked closely with Musir handlers and operations overseers. Similar to Musir, the Shamshir had a high degree of independence within the Protector command structure. Immortals: The Immortals were ace fighter / mech pilots. They were charged with protecting Haqani and Pharos as a last line of defense. The Immortals gained their name from the mechs they operated, and their long history. These mechs were outfitted with tech developed through researching the alien ruins on Haqani, enabling them to withstand its highly corrosive atmosphere. Throughout the entire history of House Vela it was said not one mech had been destroyed in battle. There was a set number of Immortals at all times and a new Immortal had to gain their place by replacing a retiring / fallen Immortal. Cavus: The Cavus served as bodyguards for Navigators. There were usually 1-2 Cavus per Navigator. Umzingeli / Abazingeli (plural, derived from the Zulu word for hunter): Ranger units, who only operated on Haqani. Their duties included providing security for Haqani environmental survey corps and keeping up to date on weather and wildlife. Due to the hostile nature of Haqani's atmosphere and fauna, they also acted as the primary search and rescue specialists. All Umzingeli were combat survival experts explicitly trained for Haqani's defense. Jemadar: Junior officers, the lowest noble rank in the military. They usually did low-level officer work. Faris: Commoner / serf police for general local security trained by House Crux officers. Usually commanded by Musir. Long Form Titles / Title Expansions Traditionally Velan titles were longer than the ones listed above, as they also signified the standing or the specific function of a person. While the shorter titles were commonly used in day-to-day practice nowadays, many Velans still knew their long form titles, which can either be expansions of the original titles or a . Here some examples how this could look like: Sheikh Sheikh of the High Ring, Protector of the Library Without Sheikh of the High Ring, Knower of the Library Within Immerser Immersed in the Exquisite Art and Science of Meta-Dimensional Navigation Immerser Voidaté (single person void piloting, usually for combat but can also be scouting) Musir Musirate of the Spiral Concord (= HQ of the Musirate) Shamshir Shamshir of the Blade of the Forbidden City / Great Library / Rasul Rasul of the Grand Forum Envoy and Emissary Supreme to Khutat Khutat of the Musaeum and Guardian of the Great ServerCategory:House Vela Category:The Velan Ascendancy